


Patchwork for Pooches

by secretagentfan



Category: Tales of Symphonia
Genre: F/M, Flanoir and all that entails, Fluff, Snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:27:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22251046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secretagentfan/pseuds/secretagentfan
Summary: On signals, self-confidence, and the rewards of petting dogs.Written for Tales Secret Santa 2019
Relationships: Colette Brunel/Lloyd Irving
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Patchwork for Pooches

**Author's Note:**

> @yanmazu this one's for you! Snowy romance is BETTER LATE THAN NEVER. Lloyd and Colette.....are good. All the characters in Symphonia are so good. Thank you for your lovely prompt!

The snow was slippery, and the sun was setting but that didn’t matter: Colette had a mission to complete! She waded through the white-dusted, cobblestone paths and the confused stares of Flanoir natives. Ignoring them was easy enough since the small mountain of quilts she was carrying was rather tall and covered her eyes, mostly. 15 falls, several snow-coated, damp quilts later and her destination was panting in front of her.

"Hi Penny! Hey!” Colette gushed from where she lay sprawled out like a snowflake on the cold ground. She had essentially crawled the last leg of the journey as standing on snow required a bit more coordination than she currently (or ever) possessed.

Penny was a squirmy sort of thrilled, wiggling her bottom and tugging against the rope that kept her attached to the doghouse. Her nails made a little scratching sound against the ice, as she eagerly leaned into Colette’s hands.

"Hey!" Colette whispered again between belly rubs and excited dog huffs. "Hey there! Hey!" 

"Colette?"

"Hey!" Colette said but shut her mouth. Adjusted her tone of voice. "Hi Lloyd! Hi Genis! It's really cold!"

He and Genis seemed to be on a walk, both bundled up and snug looking. Lloyd had bought a floppy red hat that covered his ears. Genis had mittens. Colette felt herself smile.

"Did you go swimming?" Lloyd asked, mouth open. Colette looked down at her soaked clothes– it did look like she had been swimming! 

"I don't think you can go swimming in snow," Genis said, slowly. "I think that's just falling."

"I did do a lot of that," Colette confirmed, but Lloyd wasn't giving up on his theory.

"I don't know Genis, she could have gone swimming– you know, in the bath– before she went outside!"

"That's right!" Colette acknowledged. "I could have gone swimming in the bath."

"Nobody refers to bathing as swimming."

Lloyd puffed out his chest. "I do? It's swimming, it's just a tinier pool."

Genis looked like he was going to hurt someone, but Colette knew he wouldn't. 

"Anyway, what are you doing with all those blankets Colette?" Lloyd asked.

"Oh they're for Penny! I already gave some blankets to Poochie, and Penny is my second stop! I thought the dogs might be cold out here.”

"Second stop?” Genis asked, eying Colette’s remaining quilts. “Are there more?”

"Just one! I can’t forget about Noishe!" 

“Does he even get cold?" Genis asked. 

Lloyd opened his mouth to speak at the same time as Colette, but neither of them said anything. 

Shedding his uncertainty, Lloyd piped up: "Of course he gets cold, he's a dog!" 

"All dogs get cold!" Colette agreed, vehemently.

"What was that pause, then!?"

"Don't worry about it, Genis."

Lloyd had meandered his way to Colette's side. His shoulder bumped hers, and he was smiling. She bumped back.

"Geez, Colette, you're freezing!"

"I know!" Colette bragged, and Lloyd blinked a few times. 

"Right, because before..."

"Yes! Isn't it wonderful?"

"Yeah, it is." Lloyd grinned; he looked older, somehow. Around the eyes. Or jawline. He was carrying a heavy burden, but Colette's body filled with joy anyway. The fact that she could see Lloyd looking older, see the weight he was carrying, now, right now, meant that she was here with him. She was alive. It didn't feel possible.

"Hey, are we going to pick up ingredients or not?" Genis asked, acting like he already knew the answer.

He plodded forward in the direction of the market, ever-driven. Genis was always so action-oriented. _I could stand to have a little more of that,_ she thought, considering Lloyd's jawline again but in a very different way.

Lloyd frowned. "I'll catch up. I gotta take care of Noishe first!" 

"Don’t bother. I'll ask Regal to give me a hand instead. You two go do something," Genis offered, an odd little lilt to his voice. 

"Huh," Lloyd said. He stared after Genis for a long moment. His eyebrows were all drawn together like they always did when he was thinking about something really hard. 

Colette took her best guess: "It's really cool that he can carry the shopping bags with shackles on his hands, isn’t it? Regal is amazing!"

Lloyd blinked, once, twice, and then nodded vigorously, bending down to pick up the blankets. “Yeah, you’re right! He really is!”

Lloyd picked up an armful of blankets and they were off– slipping and sliding down the path toward Noishe. When they got there, however, Noishe was panting like always: the portrait of comfort in spite of the Flanoir ice.

"Maybe his fur is just really strong."

"Definitely strong." Lloyd agreed, then frowned as Noishe panted by him, letting out a small comfortable whine. "Looks like he doesn't need this, then. I don't want him to overheat. Man, maybe we should have gone with Genis."

His nose was red. It matched his hat. “You should wrap up!” 

"Why don't we just share?" Lloyd said, and without waiting for a reply, threw one of the drier quilts over both of them. 

_Signals._ Colette thought, vaguely recalling a conversation she had with Zelos the other night where he emphasized that she really needed to learn to pick up on those, or he'd feel bad. This is a signal.

_When given a signal–_ Raine had advised at Colette's request, after Zelos had been escorted out of the room by Sheena– _When given a signal, you make a decision on whether or not you want to return it._

It had been an intimidating concept; Colette wasn’t sure how to handle romance. It had never been possible, a distant concept she wouldn’t get to participate in, but now it was here, it was happening and…It was okay, actually. It felt safe, and warm and familiar. It felt like being around Lloyd. 

Colette found she understood this game of signals. Intuitively. She wasn't sure why she had been so nervous in the first place.

"Do you mind if I move a little closer?” She asked. Lloyd grinned then nodded.

“Yeah, of course.”

Colette tucked herself against Lloyd’s side, and after a moment, felt Lloyd’s arm around her. It was solid and warm. Precious. He was playing with her hair. She took a deep breath. It was time to see what she could do about the weight Lloyd was carrying. She opened her mouth--

“Are you okay?” Lloyd asked, and Colette froze. “How are your memories?”

“Oh! They’re fine,” she lied, quickly trying to get the matter at hand. “How are–“

“Liar.”

Caught. Colette ducked her head; Lloyd grinned. “So do you really remember everything, or were you just trying to go easy on me then too?”

“No,” Colette began, trying to be honest. She thought it over again, trying to find the words to explain it. “I remember everything, but it doesn’t feel like I remember it. Memories without emotions are.. kind of like looking at a painting, but not focusing on it at all. Sorry, that's a weird description."

“No, I think I get it better now!” Lloyd nodded, and Colette made herself smile at him. She rarely talked about what she remembered from her soulless state. The period between losing herself at the Tower of Salvation and gaining her senses back with Lloyd’s gift was surreal. She remembered everything, and yet…

“It’s weird. I know they’re mine, because they have to be, but to remember acting that way it feels…wrong.”

Lloyd’s arm tightened around her. Colette caught his hand in her own, holding it close. For a moment, they were quiet.

“Hard to imagine what Presea feels…” Lloyd mumbled, sounding so genuinely concerned, Colette felt her face heat.

Of course! Lloyd was trying to understand Presea and she made this about herself. She dropped Lloyd’s hand like a hot coal. “Yeah! She had it much more difficult I shouldn’t complain—”

“Whoa, Colette. I didn’t say that.” 

Colette shut her mouth, made pointed eye contact with the snow.

“You can complain. You know that right?”

“But—” Colette felt like she was going to burst. “Lloyd, tonight was supposed to be about you!”

“About me?”

“Your jawline!” Shit. Colette backpedaled. “It’s tired!”

“My jawline is tired?” Lloyd’s eyebrows drew together. Colette sputtered.

“All of you, you’re really tired!“

Lloyd rubbed his neck, only looking more confused. “All of us are tired–“

“No! You shouldn’t put your own feelings down like that Lloyd. You’re important!”

For a moment neither of them said anything. Lloyd just looked at Colette with his strange, new, tired eyes and shook his head. She wasn’t getting through to him. Not yet.

“Colette, sometimes I wish you could hear yourself.”

Colette didn’t back down. “I mean it, Lloyd, you’re important to me– to all of us.”

A gloved hand covered her lips. Colette almost pushed it away– she had an argument here– but Lloyd’s voice stopped her.

“You’re important too. Always have been.”

Her mouth shut. It was a basic sentence, but for some reason it left her winded, confused. Exposed. A part of her wanted to argue, and still another part wanted to cry. 

The rest of her wanted to kiss Lloyd, very, very badly.

“If you really want tonight to be about what I want though,” Lloyd started, and his voice sounded oddly tight. Nervous. “I could do something I really want to do.”

Lloyd’s hand was on her chin, tilting it to face him, but not forcefully. Signals.

Colette nodded, and when Lloyd kissed her, it wasn’t a surprise, but it felt better than any surprise Colette had ever received. It felt like Lloyd, strong, kind, Lloyd, who thought she was important, who made her feel important, who made her want to believe she was– no, who made her know she was important.

Kissing Lloyd felt natural, and when Colette hid her smile against Lloyd’s shoulder his arm wrapped around her back and made her feel more special, more valuable, than her wings ever had.

“That was nice,” Colette said, intelligently, into Lloyd’s scarf. Her whole body felt warm, even the parts of her she never thought about: the tips of her fingers, the pads of her feet. Warm, safe, and special.

“Yeah, real good,” Lloyd replied, matching her intelligence, face in her hair. His cheeks matched his hat and nose. Unable to stop, Colette threaded her fingers through his, wanting to be closer.

Noishe whined, rather loudly, from behind their heads.

They broke apart faster than should have been humanly possible.

“He was there the whole time!?” Lloyd stuttered.

“I don’t think he left!” Colette admitted, traitorous hands already in Noishe’s fur.

“You’re petting him!?”

Colette didn’t know her voice could sound like this: high and out of control. “I don’t know!”

“You’re rewarding him!”

“He’s a good boy, Lloyd!”

Lloyd opened his mouth, shut it, and then broke into the kind of laugh that Colette was fairly certain even he didn’t expect. Doubled-over, genuine, and with bright, familiar eyes. 

Without hesitation, Colette joined him.


End file.
